(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell (45) celebrates his 3-point bucket. The Utah Jazz lead the Golden State Warriors 62-33 during their game, Tuesday, April 10, 2018 at the Vivant Smart Home Arena.
One of the questions that bubbled up after the Jazz on Sunday got that X next to their name, qualifying for the playoffs by winning 28 of their past 33 games, was this: How would they react now — with two regular-season games to play, with jostling for favorable playoff positioning still in the mix?
The answer came with the swing of a sledgehammer and the wearing of a sweatshirt on Tuesday night against the Golden State Warriors.
It turned out kind of OK for the Jazz. Better than anyone on the outside — and anyone on the inside — could have guessed.
The numbers on the board — Jazz 119, Warriors 79 — confirmed what everybody should have already known: Utah is not done with its business.
What happened here was beyond focused and workmanlike. It was … ridiculous.
Nothing about it, other than the lopsided final score, was more interesting than Donovan Mitchell’s pregame and postgame wearing of his definition-of-a-rookie sweatshirt, a cute-and-clear shot at 76ers’ redshirt rookie Ben Simmons, who popped off about his “100-percent” self-selection as rookie of the year.
This was Mitchell’s response. So much for his humility. What a jerk.
Kidding, folks, kidding.
“We just wanted to have fun with it,” said Mitchell, who was approached by Adidas to wear the thing. “That’s all it is is having fun.”
Mitchell did more than have fun and wear the message, he sent one, too, with his performance — 22 points on 8-for-12 shooting, a net rating of plus-37 in just 26 minutes, and he broke the NBA record for 3-pointers made by a rookie — against the Warriors. He wasn’t alone in his efficiency.
Six Jazz players scored in double figures, and together the team shot better than 53 percent. They shared the rock and the joy of victory, working the defending champions in a way that is rarely seen … well, except for the last two times these teams met — at home, when the Jazz crushed Golden State by 30 points, and on the road, where they won by 19. Add in the margin this time — 40 — and total it up, and the difference in those three games is 89 freaking points.
Whew.
The Jazz, apparently, ain’t got no satisfaction with anything they’ve achieved to date, including any of these wipe-outs. As Derrick Favors said it with such conviction: “We know what we’re doing. We know we still have work to do.”
Quin Snyder discounted the one-sided nature of the game, but he did credit his players for their energy, execution and effort.
“We played hard,” he said.
They played great.
In the historically stretched-thin Western Conference standings, the margin for slip-ups is equally thin. Quietly, the Jazz had circled the third spot as their goal, something inconceivable just two months ago, but wholly attainable if they went ahead and beat the Warriors here, which they did — and defeat Portland on Wednesday night on the road.
If.
The fourth, fifth, sixth spots were and the fourth and fifth spots now are right there up on their back bumper, too.
All of which is to say, the Jazz were officially in the second season, but every other aspect of that qualification — where they would land, who they would play, whether they would have home-court advantage in the opening round — was in a blender.
It remains unsettled.
Facing Golden State and the challenge that presented, at least in theory, with or without Steph Curry, at this particular juncture was fitting, considering the difficult upward climb the Jazz had accomplished to get this far. They were like the mountaineers who scaled the side of a peak only to find yet another peak ahead as they conquered the initial ascent.
They’re not there until they’re there.
Truth.
But the Jazz must feel pretty good about themselves after pulling Golden State apart, piece by piece, on Tuesday night. When the count got to 103-58 early in the fourth quarter, the major hurdle for Jazz players was whether they could finish the game without busting out in laughter.
Led as it always is by Rudy Gobert, the Jazz’s defense threw up a wall against guys like Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and even Kevin Durant. The Warriors shot a mere 35 percent.
Led as it always is by Mitchell, the Jazz’s offense thrived, too.
The Warriors were, in fact, without Curry, but those other All-Stars were back from injuries that had compromised their recent efforts. The Jazz D compromised them now.
While Utah had remaining gas in its tank for motivation, the same could not be said for Golden State, which might have won or lost by 100 points and it still would have been locked in at the West’s second spot behind Houston. The Warriors’ only reason against the Jazz was to organize themselves for their playoff run. Coming in, they had gone just 5-5 over their past 10 games.
Disorganization was all they got.
As for the Jazz, they now have that one game to play. They’re pretty well rested for a back-to-back, and feeling confident.
“We’ve got a great team,” Royce O’Neale said. “Everybody loves playing with each other. The coaches do a great job getting up a game plan. It’s team ball. … It’s … it’s … fun.”
GORDON MONSON hosts “The Big Show” weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone.
